it affects the number of pilot person- years available when someone medicals out or dies prematurely. It affects the rate of seniority accrual and will ultimately require more new hires SOONER to replace those people. The point being that will increase hiring at the bottom over what it would have been had those pilots not died before retirement or lost their medicals before retirement. It's a queuing theory deal not so much affecting annual retirements (you can only retire, permanently lose your medical, or die once) as it does the total number of pilots that will be required over time, which is sort of what the thread is all about.